Regalia rules Nurburgring Race 1

Job done! Pole position and a lights to flag victory for Argentine driver Facu Regalia in Race 1 of Round 4 of the 2013 GP3 Series season.

It was his maiden victory in the category and a special day for ART GP, with the team celebrating their 20th win in the Series. The emotion literally swept Regalia off his feet in parc ferme, with Marussia Manor Racing’s Tio Ellinas in second extending his Series lead and ART Grand Prix’s Jack Harvey third.

Regalia made the perfect getaway with Ellinas holding station in second, whilst Harvey got the jump on Alex Fontana’s Jenzer Motorsport car, the Swiss driver losing several places. There were a few incidents at the start with Koiranen GP’s Kevin Korjus tagging the back of Fontana on lap one, which took the rear wing off the Jenzer Motorsport car. The Estonian driver was issued with a drive through penalty when in seventh position and later retired.

There was also frustration for several teammates when Luis Sa Silva (Carlin) made a move on the inside of Status Grand Prix’s Josh Webster and collected his teammate Eric Lichtenstein which put them both out of the race. There was contact again a few moments later when Jimmy Eriksson also got together with Webster, with both drivers having a premature end to Race 1.

Regalia put his head down and made progress at the front, building an early advantage, that would finish as a massive seven second lead. There was an early safety car deployed when there was small debris on track and Daniil Kvyat’s MW Arden machine stopped on the circuit. Once the safety car came back in, Regalia made the most of his advantage and kept Ellinas and Harvey at bay. The Brit was all over the Cypriot until the chequered flag, keen to find a way past and managing to stay within half a second, but the Series leader defended with all of his might. Behind the trio at the front was Lewis Williamson (Bamboo Engineering) and Nick Yelloly (Carlin).

Conor Daly (ART Grand Prix) was keen to make an impression and spent the race fighting with Dino Zamparelli, the duo finishing in the points. Another person on the move was Patric Niederhauser who moved his way up through the field but didn’t manage to squeeze into a points position.

At the chequered flag, the day belonged to Regalia and ART Grand Prix, bringing home a first and a third with Ellinas pocketing more points in the championship with second. Williamson, Yelloly, Carlos Sainz (MW Arden) completed the top six. Melville McKee (Bamboo Engineering) scored his first points of his rookie GP3 campaign with seventh with Alexander Sims (Status Grand Prix) coming home eighth, the Brit will start tomorrow’s Race 2 from reverse pole. Zamparelli and Daly were the final two points scorers.

Ellinas holds control of the Drivers’ Standings on 87, with Regalia moving up the order to P2. The Argentinian also collected two further points for fastest lap and is on 72 points, with Kevin Korjus on 59. ART Grand Prix teammates Harvey and Daly are on 57 and 52.

ART Grand Prix increase their advantage in the Teams Standings with 181, with Koiranen GP on 103 and MW Arden on 93.

Race 2 starts at 09.20 local time tomorrow, so far it’s been seven different winners from seven races, will we see eight?

Nurburgring – Race 1

Driver

Team

1.

Facu Regalia

ART Grand Prix

2.

Tio Ellinas

Marussia Manor Racing

3.

Jack Harvey

ART Grand Prix

4.

Lewis Williamson

Bamboo Engineering

5.

Nick Yelloly

Carlin

6.

Carlos Sainz

MW Arden

7.

Melville McKee

Bamboo Engineering

8.

Alexander Sims

Status Grand Prix

9.

Dino Zamparelli

Marussia Manor Racing

10.

Conor Daly

ART Grand Prix

11.

Robert Visoiu

MW Arden

12.

Patric Niederhauser

Jenzer Motorsport

13.

Patrick Kujala

Koiranen GP

14.

Aaro Vainio

Koiranen GP

15.

Emanuele Zonzini

Trident

16.

Giovanni Venturini

Trident

17.

David Fumanelli

Trident

18.

Samin Gomez

Jenzer Motorsport

19.

Ryan Cullen

Marussia Manor Racing

20.

Kevin Korjus

Koiranen GP

Not Classified

Carmen Jorda

Bamboo Engineering

Alex Fontana

Jenzer Motorsport

Josh Webster

Status Grand Prix

Jimmy Eriksson

Status Grand Prix

Daniil Kvyat

MW Arden

Eric Lichtenstein

Carlin

Luis Sa Silva

Carlin

Fastest Lap : Facu Regalia- ART Grand Prix : 1 :46.712 on lap 17

source: GP3 Series

ELLINAS SECOND AT NÜRBURGRING

Marussia Manor Racing GP3 – Nürburgring – Race 1

GP3 Series, Round 4, Nürburgring, Germany

Saturday 6 July 2013

ELLINAS P2 1:48.010

ZAMPARELLI P9 1:48.923

CULLEN P19 1:49.242

Tio Ellinas started from the front row of the Nürburgring grid and finished second in the main race as the GP3 field assembled for round 4 of the championship at the historic German circuit. The Cypriot’s second podium of the year maintained his 100% point-scoring record in the seven 2013 races held so far and extended his series lead to 15 points over ART’s race winner, Facu Regalia.

Ellinas started on used tyres and found he had no answer to Regalia, who was on fresh rubber, losing touch after a Safety Car intervention on lap 3. He controlled the rest of the field well, however, with Silverstone winner Jack Harvey taking the final podium place.

Dino Zamparelli drove a stunning first lap, picking up five places from 16th on the grid, and eventually finished in ninth position, once again just missing out on pole position for the second, reverse grid race.

Ryan Cullen enjoyed his first experience of the German GP venue and brought the team’s third car home in 19th place.

Tio Ellinas

“That wasn’t quite as straightforward as perhaps it looked. I was struggling quite a lot with understeer and it was a tough race for me from the beginning. I knew that Facu was on new tyres and had the advantage at the beginning but I hoped he would come back to me. But still, it’s my first time at the Nürburgring, so a good job I think. The important thing is to keep scoring and I did that.”

Dino Zamparelli

“That was a great start! It’s very tight through the first few corners here, so that was satisfying. I gained another place when Kevin Korjus picked up a drive-through penalty and it was good to score points for the third time. Unfortunately I missed out on the Sunday pole by one place – again!”

Ryan Cullen

“Quite an eventful day for me. It was all about getting through the first lap but once I got into the race I had some good pace and some enjoyable battles. I tried a few moves that didn’t pay off, but I learned for tomorrow and next time. It was my first time here and I really enjoyed the layout, with technically challenging corners.”